Girl's home manual of cookery, home management, home nursing and laundry

Melt half the butter, mix smoothly with it the flour, pepper and salt, and gradually add the hot liquid. Stir and boil five minutes. Remove from the fire, add vinegar and remainder of butter cut in small pieces. Mix well. Serve in a hot sauce boat. A hard boiled egg, chopped up, may be added to the cooked sauce. Baked Fish. Put the prepared fish into a greased baking tin, add dripping for basting. Bake in a moderate oven, baste frequently unless a covered tin is used. Time. Allow ten minutes to each pound and ten minutes over. Make the gravy in the tin in which fish was cooked, using the fat with which fish was baked. Use the same quantities as for fish sauce. Fish may be stuffed with poultry stuffing. Place stuffing inside the fish, sew up the opening and bake in the usual way. Fresh haddock is often stuffed and baked. Baked fish has more flavour than boiled or steamed fish. Fried Fish. Clean the fish and, if large, cut in neat pieces. Mix 1% cup flour with Y% tsp. salt and a little pepper. Dip the fish in the flour until well covered. It is then ready for frying but will be improved if first egged and dipped in breadcrumbs. To Egg and Crumb Fish, Meat, or Vegetables. 1 egg well beaten, add to it 1 or 2 tbsp. milk. ’ 2 cups of fine, dry breadcrumbs. Put the egg on a plate and the crumbs on clean paper. Dip the food first in the egg, using a brush to cover all parts. Lift it out of the egg with a broad knife, drain carefully, then slip into the centre of the crumbs, shake them all over it. Remove food from the crumbs, shaking off loose ones, then firm the others with a clean knife. If possible place the food in a frying basket, fry in smoking hot fat to cover (see directions for frying). If only a small quantity of fat is used, turn the fish. Drain on paper. Time. Thick fish will take about ten minutes to cook, thin pieces will cook ‘in from 6 to 8 minutes. Serve on a paper doiley on a hot dish garnished with parsley and cut lemon. FISH 65: Baked Herring. - 6 fresh herrings. 12 peppercorns. 14 cup water. 2 cloves. 3/4 cup vinegar. 1 bay leaf, 1 piece of mace. 1 _ tsp, salt. Clean herrings, cut off heads and tails and remove the back bones. Roll each up separately, the tail end inside. Put in a baking dish with the other ingredients and liquids. Bake in a moderate oven from 30 to 45 minutes, according to the size. Serve hot or cold for breakfast. If the backbone is not removed, cut each fish across into three pieces. Mackerel may be cooked in the same way. Finnan Haddock. Wash fish, soak an hour if salt, cook in a mixture of milk and water in a tin in oven, or a frying pan on top of stove. Simmer gently 15 to 30 minutes according to size and thickness. Serve on a hot dish with butter dotted over it, or a sauce may be made of the milk and water. Fish Pie. Remove skin and bones from the cooked fish, moisten with white sauce and season. A little parsley finely chopped may be added. Half fill a pie dish with this mixture, cover with mashed potatoes and bake in a moderate oven until the potatoes are broken. Fish Cakes. Prepare the fish as for fish pie, mix with it an equal quantity of cooked potato and moisten with a little thick fish sauce or white sauce. Fish Salads. Cooked fish, freed from skin and bone, may be used for salads. See chapter on salads. Salmon Loaf. 1 can or 2 Ib. cooked salmon. 1 tsp. finely chopped parsley. Y% cup bread or cracker crumbs. few gratings nutmeg. 1 tbsp. melted butter, f.g. powdered mace. 4 tsp. pepper. 3 egg yolks. 1 tsp. salt. 3. egg whites.